Mark Darling, sustainability programs coordinator
As Darling told Waste & Recycling News, one of the problems in creating a composting facility is finding someone to shoulder the financial risk during the startup and implementation. Darling, who started Ithaca College’s composting program, said it was necessary to get assistance from the local solid waste district “until it was proven that switching to composting for organics collection was improving the bottom line in terms of waste disposal. It took the subsidy and the support from the local solid waste district to show that this is not just an added cost, that there is a balance there. There’s not a market for it like there is for bottles and cans.”